In Ontario, soccer leagues for children under 12 years of age will no longer keep score. There will be more practices than actual games. As well, there will be no more tournaments, only festivals. So, no trophies, no first place, no winning teams.
This has followed a trend that we are seeing across both the United States and Canada with regards to competition elimination in young children.
The thought being, that this will encourage team playing and skills building in children.
Countries in Europe such as Holland, Germany and Spain have been doing this for a while, so it seems. The idea, according to these countries, is to allow more play and develop a larger pool of elite athletes.
I have puzzled over this for more than a week.
On one hand, as an obesity specialist, I do like the idea that all children can take part. It removes the picked last, bench-warming dynamic where only the most skilled children actually play.
On the other hand, we live in a competitive world. Is it realistic to remove all form of competition in order to encourage skills building? Is the world so black and white that we can’t encourage both at the same time?
Competition is innate. Survival of the fittest and all of that!
I don’t understand how this will develop more skilled athletes? Competition can be a driving force to ensure an athlete reaches their highest potential.
I also don’t think for a second that the kids (and their parents) will not keep track, themselves. Officials may not keep track but the kids certainly will be!
Everything within our North American culture insists that we identify a winner. We live in a society that values hard work, hierarchy and promotion. Competition is central to this value system.
Are we teaching our children to eliminate competition but modeling the opposite values? Does our culture support eliminating competition?
Those are my thoughts on this. I am very interested to see how this turns out.
What do you think?